DISQUS

It's a great idea . . . I'm actually surprised that neither they, nor Google thought if it before. The move is a great exercise in promoting site branding, IMO

Joshua Dorkin's last blog post..Older Americans Month And Scams (Loan Mods, specifically)

Brin isn't worried because, no matter how good Wolfram Alpha is, no one will be able to remember the name . . . it is time for them to rebrand and fast!

Joshua Dorkin's last blog post..Older Americans Month And Scams (Loan Mods, specifically)

Are you saying that Zillow doesn't take things like Graffiti into account when presenting a Zestimate? Say it ain't so, Joe!

I'm looking forward to Google House Scan . . . the tool that combines floor plans with 3d rendering, and a bit of spy technology to show everyone in the neighborhood what is going in inside your home.

Chad -
You've taken a pet peeve and done something about it! It is nice to see someone actually walk their audience through the steps instead of assuming they can just figure it out. We all learned from somewhere . . . many will learn from this post. Thanks!

I'm glad to inspire, Peter!

Good article, but it isn't very focused on the real estate target market. I'd love to see a similar piece focused on what blogging activities specifically help real estate professionals. Great blog, BTW.

I'm definitely in agreement with you on your post here and found a few resources from it that I as looking for. That said, another trend we might see is the reduction of comments on blogs in lieu of twitter discussions about those articles. I see it on some blogs that I follow . . . comments are down, while twits about those posts are up. If there really is a correlation, it could be a nasty trend for bloggers.

Thanks for the update, Andy. Alexa had become relatively irrelevant . . . lets see if they can move back to the forefront once again.

Joshua Dorkin's last blog post..Obama’s Economic Adviser, Larry Summers, Too Cozy With Wall Street

Ad revenues are falling for targeted advertising as well, Terry.

Hey Brian and thanks for the message! I really appreciate your comments and I'm glad to hear that you find BiggerPockets.com to be a great site! Good luck in 2009 to you as well and I look forward to seeing you on the site.

Best,
Josh Dorkin
BiggerPockets.com

Complicated is the new "Dear John".

Anyone have any predictions for the future of FF?

Joshua Dorkin @ BiggerPockets.com's last blog post..Fortune Magazine’s 10 Worst Real Estate Markets for 2009.

Christine - Inevitably, when these social networks get to a certain size, the companies start clawing to create a presence and the spam starts flowing. We're actually working on systems for our site to prevent this from happening, and thus far, have had a pretty good success rate.

There's nothing worse then having Frank's Furniture or some other business clawing at befriending you. I think these social sites should enforce a policy like ours which prevents people from creating profiles for companies. Social networking is about person to person interaction, even on the business side of things.

Wow, Andy! That's just sick growth, even if a good percentage of the accounts are fakes or duplicates, as Erick suggests. Once you cross the tipping point, things really start moving, I guess! Our real estate social network is at the 50-100 new members a day pace right now, and slowly increases. This post just inspires us to continue to provide a great venue for people, and hopefully we'll reach the steamroller phase sometime soon!

Regardless, Facebook has certainly become a monster and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Nice one, Joseph. Its marketing at its finest!

Thanks for the Congrats, Joseph! I never thought of us as a "dating service," but I guess the description fits! We appreciate the review and hope that all of your readers will swing by and get involved!

BTW - We're not only a site for investors, BiggerPockets has expanded from a site focused on investors to one focused on investors, professionals (agents, lenders, etc), and consumers!

Minor Correction: The site was founded in August 2004 as a resource site and in January of this year expanded to become a social network . . . we've had a forum based site for 4 years now.

Hey Joe . . . I like the post! Looks great, and the video above is pretty cool too! Thanks for re-posting after the blowup.

Enjoy, folks!

What's cooking, Jeff! Thanks for sharing the video, and for the plug (although you butchered my last name Dorkin - Dworkin is much less likely to get made fun of, though ;) ). I'm glad that you're a fan of the site, and one of now 25,000 members (we hit the mark this morning!)

While I'm here, and speaking of comedic marketing, you should read today's post on our blog by Charles Feldman, Santa Faces Foreclosure; Victim Of Subprime Debacle; Seeks Christmas Government Bailout (http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2008/12...) brilliant, if I do say so myself!

I'll see you around the way . . .

Thanks all!

Nice post. We're definitely in need of more than simply 2 parties, and as you suggest, there's plenty of room for even more. I know that there are enough disenfranchised people from this last election to get things moving . . . I just think people need some time to chill out after the last relentless election cycle. I suppose that time will tell what is to come.

I definitely think keeping people up to date as to how underwater they are is a quick way to lose visitors! lol.

Great Idea! Perhaps it will eliminate the need for people to use keywords instead of their name in their comments.

Thanks for the calendar, Chris. I've been looking for something like this for the past few weeks . . . best part is being able to copy events to my own cal. Great!

Sounds like a cool event that is close by (rarely happens around Denver), but the $2,500 price tag is a bit steep. Open it up to more attendees, drop the price, and I know a TON of people who'd be there in a second.

Great post. I never considered it either, but in the era of the Fannie/Freddie failures, I suppose anything is possible.

Hey Vlad . . . great post! I learned the hard way the the elimination of No Follow can become a real headache. Even though we removed the plugin, we're now on a thousand different lists as a blog that allows follow . . . as a result, we get TONS of comment SPAM. It is a PITA to say the least!

BTW - I haven't yet added the threaded comments plugin, but plan on doing it soon. See you around!

Jay I actually agree with you on one thing . . . if a blog posts too often, I stop reading. I find it difficult to keep up and get frustrated. Curbed got removed from my reader for that exact reason.